Brussels, 12/01/2016 (Agence Europe) - The EU committed close to €161 million on Tuesday 12 January to support eradication, control and surveillance programmes that aim to eliminate animal diseases and zoonoses and to further strengthen the protection of human and animal health.
A total of 130 programmes have been selected for EU funding under Regulation 652/2014 on management of expenditure relating to the food chain, animal health and animal welfare.
Tackling bovine tuberculosis will receive €62 million, transmissible spongiform encephalopathies €12 million, rabies €26 million, salmonellosis €17 million, bovine brucellosis €10 million, classical swine fever €2.5 million, and avian influenza €2 million.
Compared with 2015, €7 million more has been allocated in 2016 for the implementation of eradication and control of African swine fever programmes, mainly in the four member states where the disease has occurred in 2013.
The total number of rabies cases in wild animals across the EU has decreased significantly, from 814 in 2007 cases to just 216 cases in 2014 with very few human cases reported. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)